Wrapper for fruits or vegetables



(No Model.)

Pl. 9 0O 1 4 mo u A d Du t n Du t a P GTON. n, c.

THE NORRIS PETERS 1:4 .v mofauwo WASNIN UNITED STATES PATENT Prion.

CHARLES MUNROE BROWN,'OF OOALA, FLORIDA.

WRAPPER FOR FRUITS OR VEGETABLES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 588,690, dated August 24, 1897. Application filed February 21, 1894. Renewed July 26, 1897. Serial No. 646,039. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, CHARLES MUNROE BROWN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Ocala, in the county of Marion and State of Florida, have invented a new and useful rapper for Fruitor Veg-etables, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to awrapper or receptacle formore effectively wrapping fruits and vegetables prior to shipping; and my object is to provide a device which will be cheaper than those commonly employed and more effective in the performance of its function. In addition to these'objects Icontemplate the production of a wrapper or receptacle which will permit the air to circulate freely around the fruit or vegetables, thus preventing their premature decay- To these various ends my invention consists of a wrapper constructed of a sheet of paper or other flexible material crimped so that it will assume substantially the shape of the fruit to be wrapped and to be capable of surrounding the fruit and thereby protecting it, all of which will be more fully described hereinafter and finallyembodied in the claims.

In the accompanying. drawings, Figure 1 represents a perspective view of a wrapper constructed after my invention; Fig. 2, a plan View; Fig. 3, a side elevation of the form illustrated in Fig. l with the'fruit in place; Fig.

4, a bottom plan; Fig. 5, a horizontal section on line :20 a; of Fig. 3; Fig. 6, a plan view of the blank, and Fig. '7 a view ofa modification. The wrapper is, as before stated, preferably constructed of a circular piece of flexible and resilient material, preferably paper, and in the drawings 00 indicates the blank. The blank is crimped at b, so as to assume a partially spherical shape. This crimping is started on the dotted circle line 0 near the center of the,blank and concentric with its periphery and extends out to the edge of the blank, thereby drawing the edges up and toward each other. As the crimping nears the edge of the blank it is increased in depth, so as to bring the edges inwardly to form a contracted flaring neck portion and give the device a convex shape or the appearance of a portion of a sphere.

That part of the blank which lies within the line 0 is left uncrimped, and consequently 1 plain, thus forming a flat base or bottom,

whereby the wrapper and its contained fruit may be placed upright and, owing to this construction, remain so. The crimping of the blank a tends, as is Well known, to draw the edges together, and by this means the device is given its proper form. It will be necessary to increase the depth of the crimping when thetop and bottom of the wrapper is reached, so as to give the same its characteristic form.

The crimping may be efiected by any preferred means, and as the art of crimping is well understood no description of these means is here necessary. While I prefer to use stiif and flexible paper for the formation of these wrappers, it will be readily seen that they may be constructed of many other kinds of material, such as wood, veneer, sheet metal, and similar things. It will also be seen that the blank need not be circular in shape, since a square or, indeed, any-shaped blank could be used to an advantage, indeed,-'probably as well as a circular blank.

By means of myinvention fruits and vegetables may be safely packed in boxes for transportation, and owing to the crimpings ventilating-fines are formed, so that the air will be free to circulate around the fruit and thereby cause the same to dry out in transit and prevent its premature decay. If the form of the fruit is such that a spherical wrapper will not be preferable, its form maybe changed as desired by simply changing the degree of crimping, as shown in Fig. 7. In this modification it will be further observed that the corrugations of the blank lead from the edge thereof to substantially its center, thereby forming a convex bottom, as plainly illustrated in said Fig. 7.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The herein-described flexible fruit and vegetable wrapper adapted to snugly receive therein a fruit or vegetable, and consisting of a single sheet or blank of flexible yielding material provided with a regular series of crimps or corrugations open and free to expand or contract throughout their entire length, said crimps or corrugations leading from the edge of the sheet or blank forming a corrugated convex receptacle, and being increased in depth near the edge of the sheet or blank to form a contracted and flaring neck adapted to close on the fruit or vegetable placed in the wrapper, substantially as set forth.

2. The herein-described flexible fruit and vegetable Wrapper, consisting of a circular blank of paper provided with a regular series of criinps or corrugations open throughout their entire length, and leading from a circle concentric to the center of the blank out to the edge thereof to form an enlarged spherical body portion having a flattened base, said crimps or corrugations being increased in depth near the edge of the blank to provide a contracted and flaring neck adapted to close on the fruit or vegetable placed in the wrapper, substantially as set forth.

3. A flexible fruit and Vegetable wrapper adapted to snugly receive therein a fruit or vegetable and consisting of a blank of flexible yielding material provided with a regular series of crimps or corrugations open and free toexpand or contract throughout their entire length, said crimps or corrugations leading from the edge of the blank forming a corrugated convex receptacle and being in'- creased in depth near the edge of the blank to form a contracted neck adapted to close on the fruit or Vegetable placed in the wrapper, substantially as set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto afliXed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

CHARLES MUNROE BROWN.

W'itnesses:

JAMES O. CLARKE, S. T. SISTRUNK. 

